Daily Archives: August 3, 2012

Wildcat football defensive end CeCe Jefferson has been getting a lot of attention over the summer. Jefferson, who was named a Freshman All-American last season, has been featured on a number of sports and recruiting websites such as MaxPreps, Scout.com and Rivals.com.

There is a consensus the 6’3, 250 lb. defender is well on his way to being a top player if he can avoid injury and continue at a high level of play. Jefferson was one of the defensive stars for BCHS last season and has had seven Division 1 offers.

He attended the Will Muschamp Football Camp in June in Gainesville. He was impressive enough to be offered a UF scholarship at the end of camp. The upcoming sophomore will continue to weigh his options but currently has offers from Louisville, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson, FSU, North Carolina and South Carolina as well as the Gators.

After last weekend’s candidate forum, voters should have a good sense of where the candidates stand on classic issues like taxes and spending as well as more recent hot-button ones like sand mining, medical waste incinerators or the closure of Barber Road.

What struck me about the forum were its parallels to the intense political battles at the state and national level. As Theresa Rhoden points out in her letter this week, the local candidates’ messages sound very similar to those emanating from the campaigns of Mitt Romney and President Obama; and I don’t think that’s coincidental.

“The incumbents are failing us,” all the challengers say. “We’re improving, not as much as we’d all like, but things are progressing and the sky’s not falling,” seems to be the call of those in office.

It’s like we’ve become so politically polarized, and there’s so many ways to be exposed to the propaganda of the right and the left, that realistic solutions to the day-t0-day challenges of local government get lost in this giant echo chamber we’re all stuck inside thanks to the Internet, social media, cable television and supped-up smart phones.

May 3, 2012Comments Off on JU coach, former Gator guest speak at Y’s Playmaker awards

Former Florida Gator and present day Jacksonville University football coach Kerwin Bell was the guest speaker the evening of April 26 at the Playmaker Awards banquet sponsored by the Baker Family YMCA.

Mr. Bell, a native of Mayo, FL, was a walk-on at UF in 1983 and spoke on how a combination of circumstances brought him to the starting slot after he was initially eighth on the depth chart.

“Look at the positive in any situation,” he advised attendees, reflecting on his on-field experience in high school where he led the Layfayette County High School Hornets to a state championship, his four years on the Gators squad and post-graduate professional career in the NFL and CFL.

He said his inspiration for never giving up came from Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ford and Johnny Unitas. All initially failed several times before taking their place in history.

May 3, 2012Comments Off on Bobcats join Wildcats for spring football training

Coach Ryan Sulkowski will be wearing a new hat as the Baker Wildcats launch the first week of spring football practice.

Sulkowski has taken over the middle school program for the spring.

“It will be exciting to see 175 kids on our practice field,” said Sulkowski. He is handling the middle school team while they look for a head coach to replace George McDuffie. Sulkowski likes the opportunity that gives him.

“We are making the middle school and high school program a seamless unit,” said the new Bobcats coach.

Danny Green did something similar during his tenure as Wildcat head coach. Though he didn’t go so far as to take over the middle school program, he installed the high school playbook on the middle school level. Green felt it enabled the middle schoolers to already have a working knowledge of the Wildcat playbook when they entered BCHS.